Letters to the editor for Friday, April 19, 2013

Ulster County has an opportunity to put a valuable public resource to use for tremendous public benefit: a rail trail on the county-owned rail corridor.

Ulster County has an opportunity to put a valuable public resource to use for tremendous public benefit: a rail trail on the county-owned rail corridor.

But a private company, the Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR), which is nearing the end of its 25-year lease on the 38.6-mile corridor, refuses to allow the county to develop a trail on the portions it doesn't use and will never be able to use. CMRR currently operates 2.5 miles in Mount Tremper and 2.25 miles in Kingston.

CMRR is promoting "rails and trails." But this can't work, because many places along the corridor (through underpasses or narrow rock cuts) aren't wide enough to accommodate both.

The county wants to develop a world-class trail system that would enable people to go from Highmount to the Walkway over the Hudson. The Walkway attracted more than 780,000 in its first year (2009) and now generates more than $24 million a year in economic activity.

A rail trail through our beautiful mountains would attract millions and generate the kind of low-impact, environmentally friendly economic activity that would really boost the region.

I urge our elected officials to make the trail a reality as soon as possible.

Karen Charman

Shandaken

I think it is an absolute disgrace that Lee Road Elementary School in Cornwall, where my granddaughter attends fourth grade, would even consider having schoolchildren sing the song "Dynamite" at a school-sponsored concert. The lyrics alone are extremely objectionable.

While the school has substituted a different word for one expletive, the kids already know what the replaced word actually is, and that still does nothing about the song's disgraceful overall content.

The principal has acknowledged the song choice, but has so far refused to pull it from the concert. This is not what I expect my grandchildren to be taught in school.

Educators always lament the dumbing down of our schoolkids. Why don't they realize that they are themselves a big part of the problem? When are schools going to stop trying to indoctrinate our children and return to simply teaching good values? This shameful song must be pulled.

James Meineker

Campbell Hall

It's hard to believe that Gov. Andrew Cuomo can't think of anything to do with our money but expand abortion in a state known as "an island of unrestricted abortion rights."

Alas, our governor's priority remains expanding abortion, this time disguised as the Women's Equality Act. The Reproductive Health Act has not garnered enough support, so he is trying something new.

Cuomo's agenda includes allowing third-trimester abortions into state law, having nondoctors perform abortion and new threats to conscience protections. What New York needs is a return to true women's rights.

For example, Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt continues pressing for informed consent. Giving a woman full information about services available for her and her baby and risks associated with abortion is a principle shared by pro-lifers and pro-choicers.

For timeless testimony on women's equality not being defined as abortion, look to our feminist foremothers, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who called abortion child murder and infanticide.

The Women's Equality Act is not about women or equality — it is about Cuomo's obsession with getting what he wants for the never-sated pro-abortion movement.

Implore your state senator to stand strong against abortion expansion.